The Right Kind of Wrong

Pulling her dark, skinny jeans over the curve of her hips, Emily walked across the room in search for an appropriate top to wear. She wouldn’t admit it, but she was slightly nervous about going to the BBQ. It wasn't that she was afraid of meeting new people, but more the fact that she would be walking into a situation that had been normal for her just some months earlier and she really wasn't sure how she would react to it…

Buttoning the pants as she tried to find the striped top she was looking for, she groaned slightly as there was a knock on the door. “Come in,” she called out as she picked up a pair of heels from the back of her closet. She’d only been living there for a few weeks, and yet she’d managed to spread her things all around the room, some things had even gotten lost.

Throwing the heels on the unmade bed, she straightened up as the door opened and Taylor walked inside the room, causing her to smile. Not bothered by just walking around in her bra in front of him, she continued the search for her top. “Hey,” she acknowledged him as he just stood inside the door.

“Hi,” he replied evenly, not really sure what he should do, his eyes slowly traveling up over her body…

“You okay?” she asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.

“Yeah, yeah, I'm fine,” he nodded quickly. “What are you doing?” he questioned as he finally pushed the door closed behind himself.

“I can’t find my clothes,” she rolled her eyes, smiling widely. “I have this top I bought over the summer and now I can’t seem to find it,” she shrugged. “Did you want something?” she wondered, glancing over at him as she dug through the basket of clean clothes standing on the desk.

“No, just…came by to see you,” he cleared his throat. “Thought maybe you wanted to hang out or something,” he chickened out, he really had planned on asking her out, even though she’d made it clear he was her friend. Only his friend.

“I can’t,” she smiled apologetic before going back to her search, letting out a slight cheer as she finally found the top.

“You going somewhere?” Taylor asked disappointed, watching as she pulled the top over her head, covering the view, and pulling the pins from her dark blonde hair, letting it tumble down over her shoulders in gentle waves.

“Yeah,” she nodded, glancing over at him. “Chay invited me to this BBQ they’re having tonight,” she told him as she ransacked her bag for the things she would need to bring with her.

“Chay?” Taylor questioned, obviously recognizing the name.

“Kell’s boyfriend,” Emily confirmed as she picked up her iPhone and removed it from the charger.

“So you're going to a party with the hockey players?” he asked dryly, not liking it one bit.

“It appears so,” she said evenly, watching him from the corner of her eye. She’d explicitly laid out the rules, that she wasn't attracted to him, and only wanted him as a friend, on several occasions in fact, and she didn’t appreciate his attitude whenever she appeared to even look at some other guy. Of course she knew it hurt when someone you like didn’t like you back and you had to watch them date other people, but at the same time he had to realize that they were just friends, or soon they wouldn’t even be that.

“Is that a problem?” she wondered as she slipped on her heels and grabbed her cardigan from the back of a chair.

“No, of course not,” he said quickly.

“Didn’t think so,” she mumbled. “I have to go, but maybe you could walk me out?” she suggested.

“Sure,” he agreed, pulling the door open for her. “So who’s going to be there?” he inquired as they walked down the corridor and he couldn’t help but look as she adjusted the v-neck over her cleavage.

“I don’t know,” she admitted.

“You don’t know and you're still going?” he frowned concerned.

“Of course I am,” she smiled simply. “I know a few of the people who will be there, and the rest I can just get to know when I'm there,” she reasoned.

“That’s what I'm afraid of,” he said under his breath as he pulled the door to the stairs open, letting her go through first.

“I'm going, and you can’t do anything about it,” she stated as they started down the stairs. “And by the way, going to parties where people you don’t know are going to be, it’s a part of the whole college experience,” she pointed out.

“It doesn’t have to be,” he disagreed.

“No, but hanging with the same group of people for four years, without trying to meet others, sounds extremely boring,” she shrugged as they reached the ground floor and she pushed the door open, walking out in the cooling air.

“Obviously you haven't been hanging with the right people,” he commented.

“I honestly don’t think it has anything to do with the right people,” she stopped, turning to look at him. “I know what that’s like and I just like meeting new people,” she shrugged. “Which is exactly what I'm going to do now, when I go to this BBQ,” she pointed out, smiling for a moment.

“Call me when you get home?” he asked, realizing that she wasn't changing her mind.

“I’ll text you in the morning,” she agreed, a pointed look passing over her eyes. She liked having people around her that cared about her as well as worried about her well-being, but she wasn't entirely sure that Taylor only wanted what was best for her and not wanting to be assured she didn’t meet a guy who wasn't him…

“Okay,” he nodded defiantly.

“Great,” she smiled, lingering for a moment before she turned and headed down the street, opting against taking her car. As Chay had pointed out, there would be alcohol there and she most likely would be drinking…drinking and driving was bad.

And besides, she’d Googled the address Kell had texted her and it wasn't that long of a walk anyway.

Arriving at the house that was crawling with people, Emily quickly sought out Kelly and Chay, and soon also found a few of the other girls Kelly had introduced her to. Falling into a pattern of wandering around and talking to several of the people in the house, she soon found herself with a plate of food in her hand and beer in the other, sitting in the backyard along many others, watching as a few of the guys were trying to look cool by the grill. Only they failed as they constantly had looks of panic flash across their faces when things didn’t go as planned.

“So where are you from?” the guy on her right, Matt Frattin, asked curiously as his girlfriend Bella kept stealing things from his plate. “I mean you say you transferred from somewhere.”

“That would be telling,” Emily stalled, a soft smile across her lips.

“Come on,” he nudged her.

“Leave her alone,” Bella flicked him on the forearm. “She doesn’t want to tell, we can’t make her,” she pointed out. She’d met Emily though Kelly when they had lunch together one day and she’d quickly noticed that there was something the unfamiliar woman didn’t want to reveal, something sad.

“It’s alright,” Emily assured them. “I just…would like to not dwell on that just yet,” she said softly, a pleading undertone shining through.

“Alright,” Fratts nodded slightly. “Would I know where you went?” he probed, causing the two girls to burst out laughing.

“That is not leaving it alone,” Bella reprimanded him. “Geesh, sometimes he’s like a five year old,” she rolled her eyes.

“I can’t tell you that,” Emily shook her head, taking a sip from her bottle just as a tall brunette sat down next to her on the improvised ‘bench’ set up in the backyard.

“The suspense is going to kill me,” Fratts complained whining.

“Grow up Fratts,” the guy next to Emily retorted smiling widely.

“Ey!” Fratts snapped, throwing a French fry at him.

“If you're going to start a food fight, I want to leave,” Emily smiled as she looked between them. “I really like this shirt,” she informed them.

“It’s a nice shirt,” Fratts agreed, earning himself strange looks for the three people around him. “What?” he questioned.

Neither of them saying anything, Emily sipped her beer and Bella kept munching on a potato chip before she cleared her throat slightly. “Well, that was just slightly uncomfortable,” she announced.

“You don’t say,” Emily agreed softly.

“So you're the new girl,” the brown-haired guy next to Emily smiled as he looked over at her.

“Am I going to be known as the new girl forever?” Emily frowned slightly.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Or at least till you're not new anymore,” he smirked, easily dodging the swipe she took at his head. “You're violent,” he commented.

“Just wait,” she glared at him, a playful smile across her lips. She’d quickly found that the large number of people present in the house wasn't much different from the crowd she’d spent her three previous years with and in a sense, it was very comforting to be there.

It reminded her of the good times, as well as the painful ones, but on the whole, it was familiar and…and if she was honest, it felt like home. Taylor and Julia and the others were great friends, but there was something lacking when she spent time with them, she still enjoyed it but…

She’d always, ever since she was in junior high, spent most of her time with boys, or her teammates in the different sports she was involved in, so it was always a little unfamiliar when she was around people who weren’t interested in sports. After all, most of her life had, in one way or another, revolved around sports.

“So,” she began licking her lips slightly. “I got an unwanted nickname now, am I going to call you Vandy?” she asked as she looked at him.

“You're very welcome to call me Chris,” he replied smoothly, causing her to giggle slightly, and it wasn't just because of the alcohol already in her system. She’d been introduced to most of the hockey team, though she only remembered a few of them, when she arrived and he’d been one of the few who made an immediate impression, but if she was completely honest, it scared her just a bit.

“Alright,” she nodded slowly, watching him from the corner of her eye as she did, he was charming and he very well knew it.

“If you don’t want me to call you new girl, what would you want me to call you?” he asked curiously, watching her closely.

That Chris VandeVelde was trouble…